In this issue we present several feature articles, ranging from the decline of polymaths in medicine to one doctor’s experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also include a special section on epidemics and infection, and two articles from our medical history lecture series: “The American Civil War: a biological phenomenon” and “Health, Hope, and Healing on the Tiber.” As always, we have interesting pieces relating medicine to art, literature, and history, and reflections on the medical experience from doctors, patients, and students.